No. 22 Mercer Rumbles Past Visiting Samford

Saturday, October 4

Macon, Ga.

4 p.m.

Mercer University

4-1 , 4-0

Samford

0-6 , 0-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Samford

Mercer

10/4/2025 9:40:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – Mercer racked up more than 550 yards of total offense and got a school record 14 tackles for loss from its defense as the 22^nd-ranked Bears rolled to just their second 4-0 conference start in program history with a 45-21 rout of visiting Samford on Saturday evening at Five Star Stadium.

Freshman Braden Atkinson threw for 365 yards and a school record-tying five touchdowns, while freshman Ty Doughty accounted for 190 all-purpose yards, to lead Mercer (4-1, 4-0 SoCon) who matched its 2022 squad for the best conference start in the 51 seasons of its program. It was the seventh-straight loss for the Bulldogs (0-6, 0-4) who have now come away empty on four-straight trips to Middle Georgia.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Mercer 45, Samford 21
RECORDS: Mercer 4-1 (4-0 SoCon); Samford 0-6 (0-5 SoCon)
LOCATION: Macon, Ga. (Five Star Stadium)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

Mercer went 3-and-out on their opening possession of the afternoon, but needed just one play to break the deadlock just more than a minute later. Samuel Albee found himself all alone in the Samford secondary, and hauled in a quick strike from Braden Atkinson before scampering 64 yards for the go-ahead score. MU 7, SU 0

Ty Doughty did most of the work on a 6-play, 48-yard scoring drive later in the period, but redshirt freshman linebacker Antonio Butts Jr. capped the possession with a 1-yard end around. Doughty carried the ball four times for 31 yards on the drive, including a 21-yard jaunt that set the Bears up inside the Samford 5-yard line. MU 14, SU 0

Touchdown Bears!

Linebacker @AntonioButtsJr1 gets a touch on offense and scores his first career touchdown! 🤝

Q1 | 2:36
Mercer 14, Samford 0#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/b6uz2u2Fbt
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) October 4, 2025

2ND QUARTER

Mercer bridged the first and second quarters with an impressive 13-play, 97-yard drive that shaved more than 5-1/2 minutes off of the play clock. Braden Atkinson went 8-for-10 for 77 yards on the possession, including a 3-yard touchdown pass to Javarius George. MU 21, SU 0

The Bears went to work again on their following possession, capping a 9-play, 63-yard touchdown drive with Braden Atkinson's needle-threading 9-yard scoring pass to Brayden Smith. Mercer converted a pair of third down conversions on the drive, including a 10-yard pass to Adjatay Dabbs on a 3^rd-and-5 situation at the Samford 21-yard line. MU 28, SU 0

Look out 😤👀@DrewClare02 #WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/QZJcihFqEn
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) October 4, 2025

3RD QUARTER

Samford came out of the halftime gates swinging and turned its opening possession of the second half into points behind backup quarterback Brady Strober. Strober opened the drive with a short pass, but culminated it with a 63-yard scoring strike to Preston Bird. MU 28, SU 7

Mercer answered on the ensuing possession with a balanced 5-play, 76-yard touchdown drive. Redshirt freshman Billy Martin carried the ball twice for 27 yards, while Braden Atkinson completed a pair of passes, including a 38-yard touchdown strike to Brayden Smith. MU 35, SU 7

The Bears stretched their lead out to five scores later in the period, and needed just one play again. Braden Atkinson connected with Ty Doughty on a wheel route near midfield, and the newcomer finished off the scoring drive by hurdling a defender and racing 66 yards for his first collegiate score. MU 42, SU 7

Samford answered on the ensuing possession, driving 75 yards on nine plays, including Cameron Bland's 13-yard touchdown run up the middle. Bland chewed up 40 yards on the possession on just four rushing attempts, while Brady Strober completed three passes for 33 yards. MU 42, SU 14

Touchdown Bears!@Braden_Atkinson connects with @ty_doughtyy on the wheel route and Doughty does the rest for the 66-yd TD reception! 🙌💨

That's the first career touchdown for Ty Doughty!

Q3 | 5:30
Mercer 42, Samford 7#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/TN681Uh1sm
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) October 4, 2025

4TH QUARTER

Lashon Young's interception set at the Samford 26-yard line set up what would be the final scoring drive of the night for the visitors. The Bulldogs were limited to -3 yards on the first two plays of the ensuing possession, but Brady Strober connected with Samuel Pickett on a 77-yard touchdown pass on 3^rd-and-13 from the 23-yard line. MU 42, SU 21

The Bears took over on downs to set up their final possession of the contest. Mercer mustered drove the ball to the Samford 17-yard line before settling for a 34-yard field goal from Reice Griffith. MU 45, SU 21

Bears get the sack on 4th down!

It's @McinnisKobe with our sixth sack of the day! 😤#WeOverMe pic.twitter.com/msRQh8gYDI
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) October 4, 2025

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Freshman Braden Atkinson threw for 365 yards and five touchdowns on 22-of-35 passing with no interceptions. The performance helped the newcomer match a 3-year-old school record (Fred Payton vs. ETSU, 2022) for single game passing touchdowns, while also giving Atkinson his school record-tying (Payton, 2022) third 300+-yard passing outing of the campaign.
+ Freshman Ty Doughty accounted for 182 yards of total offense and one touchdown, including a 19-carry, 105-yard night on the ground. He also caught two passes for 77 yards.
+ The Bears got 2-1/2 tackles for loss from Drew Clare, freshman Kobe McInnis and sophomore Andrew Zock, while Clare headlined the trio with a game-best 12 total tackles. McInnis turned in 2-1/2 sacks, Zock added two of his own quarterback drops and freshman Ean Johnson-Kelley contributed 1-1/2 sacks.

NOTABLES

+ Saturday's win gave the Bears just their second 4-0 start in conference play in the 51 seasons of the program, and the first unblemished mark through four league games since the Bears captured their first four SoCon games of the 2022 season.
+ Mercer has now captured 17 of its last 19 games against Southern Conference opponents dating back to the 2023 season, including a current eight-game winning skein against league rivals. The Bears are now 9-1 at home across that impressive stretch.
+ MU's defense shattered a 12-year-old school record with 14 tackles for loss on Saturday, while also matching a 9-year-old school record with seven sacks. The tackles for loss superlative was previously held by the 2013 version of the Orange & Black that registered 13 stops behind the line against visiting Berry on Sept. 21, 2013.

UP NEXT

Mercer will step out of conference play on October 11 when it makes the long trek to northern New Jersey to take on Ivy League rival Princeton. Kickoff is slated for noon inside Princeton Stadium. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting the Princeton athletics ticket portal.

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